Author Notes:Salmon, preferably of the wild variety, is one of my favorite foods, and I like it in different forms. One hot August afternoon I decided to try a version of the fish soup that I was accustomed to making with water - I upgraded to Chardonnay and I found it a heady delight! My original bouillabaisse recipe was transformed into an elegant upscale version, delighting the senses. —THE FUTURE MBA

Immerse the bay leaves in cold filtered water, add 2 tablespoon of kosher or sea salt, and let stand for a half hour. Rinse with cold filtered water, removing any impurities. Do the same for the sprigs of mint leaves. Remove the rough green ends of the leeks and discard them. Then separate the individual leaves of the leeks, and cut into rectangular pieces about 2 inches long. Immerse them in cold filtered water, add 2 tablespoons of kosher or sea salt, and let stand for a half hour. Rinse with cold filtered water, removing any impurities.

Add the diced red onion to the other ingredients, chop the leeks, and add them as well. Mince the mint leaves and add to the pot.

Sprinkle the fish steaks and the fish head with some of the freshly ground black pepper. Add the rest of the black pepper to the pot.

Add the fish skeleton, the fish head, and the fish steaks to the pot. Halve and squeeze the lemons, filtering out any seeds. Add the lemon juice to the fish. Make incisions in the fish steaks, and insert the bay leaves into these incisions.

Uncork the bottle of Chardonnay and add to the pot. Add cold filtered water as necessary to just cover all of the ingredients. Cover the pot, turn the heat up to moderate until the liquid is boiling, at which point the flame should be lowered. After twenty minutes, a fork should be used to test the doneness of the fish steaks. If the fish is completely tender, turn off the flame and remove the pot from the stove.

Remove the bay leaves from the fish steaks, insuring that they are all removed since the bay leaves are inedible. Remove the fish skeleton from the stew. The broth may be served hot with the fish steaks, or the fish steaks may be removed and served separately. Alternatively, the fish soup as well as the salmon steaks may be served chilled, after being refrigerated.